Clemson University professor Sarah Lauro reports the current zombie mania isn’t a random fad, but part of a historical trend that mirrors a level of cultural dissatisfaction and economic upheaval.

TV Guide has your weekly Downton Abbey spoiler. And if you want to avoid that, you probably also want to avoid this interview with Siobhan Finneran. And you definitely want to avoid this piece in the Christian Science Monitor, although it reports Season 4 will be airing in America on Jan. 5, 2014.

Basket of News is compiled by Deborah and Karl — and Basketcases contributing in the sidebar.

Ruthie, I did! I ordered it on Itunes! That’s how I watched, today, in the middle of a snowstorm.

Elisabeth Moss has been getting such good reviews for it, outstanding reviews really, and I was totally sucked into the first two eps which have been shown. They are definitely “set up” episodes, so I’m sure it’s going to blow wide open in the next ep or so and I’m very excited for the next 5 installments. It was just so ominous, and creepy, and just…different.

It was also fun to see Elisabeth Moss in jeans and a modern hairstyle.

I’ll second that. The villain is a real piece-o-work – brutal and nasty – seemingly a bit out-of-the-law’s-reach. And sneaky. How about that little speech about his missing daughter in the pub.

Moss has given an appropriately muted and subtle performance – as a woman detective very much in a man’s profession. They portray the police biz as more male-centric in rural NZ than we are used to seeing. I anticipate she will dodge a bullet or two before the end.